The Extinction of Experience

Being Human in a Disembodied World

By: Christine Rosen

Narrated by: Suzie Althens

A reflective, original invitation to recover and cultivate the human experiences that have atrophied in our virtual world.

We embraced the mediated life—from Facetune and Venmo to meme culture and the Metaverse—because these technologies offer novelty and convenience. But they also transform our sense of self and warp the boundaries between virtual and real. What are the costs? Who are we in a disembodied world?

In The Extinction of Experience, Christine Rosen investigates the cultural and emotional shifts that accompany our embrace of technology. In warm, philosophical prose, Rosen reveals key human experiences at risk of going extinct, including face-to-face communication, sense of place, authentic emotion, and even boredom. Considering cultural trends, like TikTok challenges and mukbang, and politically unsettling phenomena, like sociometric trackers and online conspiracy culture, Rosen exposes an unprecedented shift in the human condition, one that habituates us to alienation and control. To recover our humanity and come back to the real world, we must reclaim serendipity, community, patience, and risk.

©2024 Christine Rosen (P)2024 Tantor

Timely, thought-provoking, and invitational

Rosen invites us to consider important questions about how we are, or are not, experiencing our lives. I, for one, plan to spend more time trying to be present. At the same time, she provides thought-provoking guidelines about how we might try to wrestle with, perhaps achieve, a balance between the real and the unreal. Worth the read/listen.

A strange world coming!

I truly feel for recent generations and generations to come.

The tech sector has introduced a sad way of living to come.

Insightful!

The narration sounded very AI. There were a couple of words in the beginning that sounded super robotic. Overall the story very impactful.

Great analysis of a fascinating subject

Really enjoyed this book. Only issue was the narrator's voice was very monotonous. I wish the author read it instead. But it didn't detract from the ideas.

Christine is great

I listen to Christine most days on the Commentary pod.. she is a sweetheart & a formidable public intellectual. This is an interesting & well-presented argument about our ever-diminishing humanity.. I don't agree with her on everything (for instance CURSIVE!), but she certainly has a point overall.
I didn't love the narrator. She clearly puts such an extreme effort (and succeeds) at speaking clearly & pleasantly, that she ignores the actual content of what she's reading.. words are often emphasized in a manner NOT of how someone would actually speak & convey the message, but rather in a robotic manner of a person simply wanting to get this next clump of words out clearly. But still, 5 stars cuz the book is great & so is CR.